How to Communicate Science to the Public — Or Die Trying
Featuring Paul Offit
October 30, 2018
4:00pm - 5:00pm
Light refreshments to follow
Please join us for a lecture by Paul Offit on communicating science to the public. We have moved from scientific illiteracy to science denialism. Today, people simply declare their own truths: vaccines cause autism; climate change isn’t real; evolution and creationism are equally valid hypotheses. As a consequence, science is losing its rightful place as a source of truth. Scientists are in the best position to combat this growing trend. However, those who choose to explain science to the press and the public face many challenges. We will discuss some of those challenges and offer suggestions on how best to deal with them.
Paul A. Offit, MD is the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as well as the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and a Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Offit has published more than 160 papers in medical and scientific journals in the areas of rotavirus-specific immune responses and vaccine safety. He is also the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC. Offit is also the author of eight medical narratives including, his most recent: Bad Advice: Or Why Celebrities, Politicians, and Activists Aren’t Your Best Source of Health Information.